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Syracuse Crunch knows the Penguins will be one tough out

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Radko Gudas of the Crunch, right, runs Warren Peters of the Penguins into the boards in the first period of Friday's Game 4 Eastern Conference Final of the Calder Cup Playoffs at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Township.
(Pete G. Wilcox | The Times Leader)

Syracuse Crunch Rob Zettler said he will delay the warning until Saturday, but it will be impactful nonetheless.

You just can't count out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, even with a three games to one lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals.

"That will be the message tomorrow. This team (the Pens) is a good team,'' Zettler said after his team's 4-2 win Game 4 Friday. "By no means is this over. They are not going to roll over.''

Just ask Providence.

The Bruins were the AHL's regular season points champion and took a three games to none lead over the Pens in the Eastern Conference semifinals. But Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fought out of that hole with four straight wins, only the third team in AHL playoff history to pull that off.

"I think we felt the same feeling we're feeling right now. Just down," Penguins forward Chris Collins said after Friday's game. "But like we said last series, take one game at a time. You gotta win four games, no matter what the series is at. If it's 2-2, you still gotta win the next one.

"We're not down 3-0. We're down 3-1. Just take it one game at a time. We have the character in the room to do it. We did it last series. If any group of guys is going to do it, it's going to be the group of guys in this room.''

Syracuse forward Brett Connolly said the Crunch went to school on that comeback.

"We were paying close attention to that series,'' he said. "We know they are not going to quit. We are trying to close them out (in Game 5 Saturday), but we have to be ready to compete the same way we did tonight.''

Crunch forward Ondrej Palat expressed confidence in his team's ability to take care of the last piece of Eastern Conference business as quickly as possible.

"Wilkes-Barre is a really good team,'' he said. "But we're playing at home. The fans are cheering for us. We believe we can end the series tomorrow.''